Vegan Gluten-free Strawberry Shortcakes
Vegan and Gluten-free Strawberry Shortcakes- just one bowl and 15 minutes is all you need to prepare these delicious shortcakes! Made with whole grain flour and coconut oil. No starches or gums!
Now that it’s officially summer we can eat all the strawberry shortcakes we want, right?!
That’s what I’m telling myself, at least.
I feel like it’s acceptable as long as they’re these strawberry shortcakes. Because you know I made them with wholesome ingredients. No refined sugars, dairy or white flour…just top-notch, bikini-loving goodness up in here.
Strawberry shortcake is one of my all-time favorite summer desserts. The second I see a pint of those bright red sweet berries my mind immediately goes to soft cake and whipped cream.
But the thing is, I can’t find a premade shortcake that is made without white flour, sugar or dairy to save my life. Which is fine, on occasion, but if I’m going to buy a package of six and have them hanging around my house I want them to have SOMETHING nutritionally beneficial in them. So of course I did what any good food blogger would do and got to work on making my own at home.
I used a combo of my go-to gluten-free blend of brown rice flour and almond flour paired with Nutiva’s new buttery coconut oil (which literally smells like butter!), almond milk, vanilla extract and a few tablespoons of pure maple syrup.
If you cant find the butter-flavored coconut oil, you can use regular instead. They will have less of a buttery flavor but will still taste delicious layered with coconut whipped cream and fresh juicy strawberries. <<best combo ever
Vegan Gluten-free Strawberry Shortcakes
Yield: 15 shortcakes
Prep Time: 15
Cook Time: 12
Total Time: 27

Ingredients:
- 1 and 1/2 cup oat flour (or brown rice flour)
- 1 cup almond flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 3/4 cup almond milk
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 tablespoons pure maple syrup
- 1/4 cup solid coconut oil*
Directions:
Preheat the oven to 400°F.
In a large bowl, combine brown rice flour, almond flour, baking powder and salt. Sift together and set aside. Using a pastry cutter or two forks, cut the coconut oil into the flour until the mixture resembles a coarse crumb.
In a measuring cup, combine 3/4 cup almond milk, 1 teaspoon vanilla extract, and 2 tablespoons pure maple syrup. Pour the liquid into the bowl with the flour and stir until a dough forms. Using your hands, shape the dough into a large ball then transfer to a parchment paper lightly sprinkled with flour. Press it out to roughly 1-inch thick then use a cookie or biscuit cutter to cut out the shortcakes. Continue to ball up the dough, press it out and cut until you have 15 cakes.
Transfer the parchment paper to a baking sheet and bake in the oven for 10-12 minutes, until light golden brown on the edges. Set aside to cool for at least 15 minutes. Serve layered with whipped cream and strawberries and enjoy!
*Your coconut oil should be in a solid state without any liquid whatsoever. If yours is even a little bit melted, place it in the fridge to chill for about 5-10 minutes, until it firms up. If there’s any doubt, err on the side of more solid than soft.
Because the cakes are made with whole grain flour, they have more of a dense texture. If you prefer a lighter texture and don’t mind baking with starches, you can try replacing 1/2 cup of the brown rice flour with tapioca flour.
Did you try this recipe? Please let me know how it turned out by leaving a comment below or sharing a picture on Instagram with the hashtag #makingthymeforhealth. I love hearing your feedback!
These look so delicious. If only I could perfect coconut whipped cream. Every time I have tried it doesn’t work. :(
So Delicious makes one that’s really good! They sell it at Whole Foods: http://sodeliciousdairyfree.com/products/coconut-milk-frozen-desserts/cocowhip-original
Thanks! I’ll have to give it a try!
These look AMAZING! Strawberry shortcake is my dad’s favorite so I have fond memories of eating shortcake with him :)
Aw, I love that Liz! <3
Eeeeee!!! Love love love strawberry shortcake – best summer dessert ever!!! I absolutely cannot wait to try this :)
Thanks Melissa! I hope you having a great rest of your day! :)
Strawberry shortcake is my favorite summer dessert! I made a Paleo version last week. Now I’m going to have to try yours because it looks amazing!
These look amazing! I love how much better it is for you. Strawberry shortcake is such a summery dessert!
I haven’t had strawberry shortcake in years – so thanks so much for this recipe for better-for-me shortcakes! I love the nuttiness the almond flour and Nutiva’s new buttery coconut oil – cannot wait to try this!
Ohhhhh momma, these are perfect! I absolutely love coconut oil in baked goods and have all the brown rice flour to make all the GF strawberry shortcakes. My family would go ape shit over these for the 4th of July!
Oh now these are just the cutest thing! And I love that you topped them with coconut whipped cream because it’s kind of ridiculous how much I love that stuff. Also! There’s buttery-flavoured coconut oil?!? I seriously need to seek this stuff out…
Love the ingredient list, Sarah! I’m all about strawberries in the summer. There’s this stand around the corner from me that sells the sweetest local strawberries, and I need to make a stop there this weekend so that I can face plant into pints of strawberries all of next week! :)
These shortcakes look amazing! Love that they’re vegan and gluten free, too! I just picked up a delicious box of strawberries form Whole Foods and I can’t wait to use them in every which way :)
Okay first how have I never seen butter flavored coconut oil before??? This is a revelation! haha
I LOVE strawberry shortcake – definitely one of my favorite summer desserts! And without dairy (which my body seems to mostly hate lately unless it’s a very small amount)? Even better!!
Totally scrumptous, Sarah! How do you do it… you’re out traveling and whipping up luscious desserts for us at the same time! I’m with you on the strawberry short cake… it’s the FIRST thing that comes to mind when I see those bright red beauties too… in fact, it was my birthday ‘cake’ this year from my sister. I love them so much. I can’t wait to get my hands on that Nutiva buttery coconut oil – omgee… they read our mind, right? Gorgeous work Sarah!
If you say this is bikini loving goodness, I believe you and I want some! These look so delicious and I love that they have coconut oil — it’s so nice in baked goods…and butter flavored?? I’m on that. :)
These are just too adorable! Love how simple the ingredient list is. A perfect treat for summer!
I made this recipe today. The only substitution I made was hemp milk instead of almond milk. The cookie cutter I used must have been pretty large because I only got 7 shortcakes. What a delicious recipe, and simple to make!!! Thank you!!! Can you think of a flour that might work in place of the rice flour? My daughter is sensitive to rice, and I would like to make these for her. :)
I’m so happy this recipe turned out well for you, Shannon! As far as substitutions, you could try oat flour or maybe a rice-free/gluten-free AP flour. The oat flour usually yields a denser texture so the texture will probably be different. It’s hard to say without testing it myself. If you give something else a try please let us know how it turns out. Thank you! :)
We just ate these with strawberries and coconut whipped cream. Perfect! I didn’t have butter flavored oil, so I added a drop of butter extract and it did the trick! From one gluten free, dairy free, egg free family, thank you for sharing!
I’m so happy to hear you enjoyed them, Dana! Thank you so much for the feedback! :)
Would it work to sub out the rice flour for cassava flour do you think? We try to avoid grains. This could work for Easter brunch tomorrow!
Thanks!
Unfortunately I haven’t experimented with cassava flour so I can’t say for sure. Please let me know if you give it a try! I hope you have a great Easter!
Made this last night for dessert. It came out great and was delicious. A sprinkle of coconut sugar on the berries and lightly mashing them created a juicy bowl of goodness. Topped with coconut whipped cream, who needs more than that. We were in heaven! Thanks for all the wonderful recipes and cook books you have provided us over the years. Everything I’ve made from one of your recipes always turns out great and always delicious, seriously I’m not exaggerating. I can tell you’ve worked really hard over the years getting everything just right. Thanks so much for helping us adopt good eating habits and providing wonderful recipes.
Thank you so much for your kind comment, Lori! It means the world to me. :)
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I made the cakes but the batter was real wet I had to add a lot more flour and couldn’t get 15 out of it. What size are the cakes? Cooking right now and cooking longer then 12 minutes. We will see how they taste tomorrow.
I just tried this recipe with brown rice and almond flours. I followed the recipe exactly but the batter was very wet. I had to add a lot more flour. It was still wet but I made the shortcake as best as I could. While they taste good for the most part, they’re a little too floury tasting. I like how easy the recipe is and would welcome suggestions regarding how to make it correctly.
I’m sorry they didn’t turn out as planned for you, Lee! The only thing I can think is that your coconut oil wasn’t solid enough and melted quickly which made the dough seem wetter than it should be. Next time try refrigerating your coconut oil until it’s completely solid before you scoop it out. After you work it into the flour you can refrigerate the bowl to keep it cold and then add your wet ingredients after. Hopefully those tips will help!
Hi Sarah. Thanks for responding so quickly! I think you’re right about the coconut oil. I will refrigerate oil and bowl next time. We’re still enjoying the first batch. Love the taste of your recipe! !!!
Thanks Lee! :)
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Kindly confirm the quantities of the flours and milk that are to be used in this recipe. I made these shortcakes today, and the dough turned out to be more like a batter – pretty thin. There was no way it could be rolled out – I just had to drop spoonfuls onto the cookie sheet. And cooking time seemed to be more like 20 minutes. It seems like either there needs to be more flour or less milk or both. Again, kindly confirm the amounts.
Thank you,
Liz
Hi Liz, it’s likely that your coconut oil wasn’t cold enough and melted too soon. It is vital that it be in a solid state otherwise it will seem like your dough is too wet. It’s a very common problem when making scones or shortcakes. The amounts are correct.
I would like to make these, but I was wondering if I could replace the coconut oil with butter? Thanks!
That should work! Just make sure the butter is very cold. If it’s too warm then the dough will seem wet like you need to add more flour when you actually don’t need to.